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Please help...

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We have a Tetra 3 gal halfmoon tank. Two neons, two ghost shrimp, and a gold mystery snail. When we feed the fish, we give them a pinch of tropical flakes but most of it collects on the fake plants and in the gravel... Are we supposed to clean that off? I know ghost shrimp eat as they walk on the plants, but it seems like they can't keep up. Our snail is fast but there is still food collecting in the tank. We have started feeding them a little less because the package says not to give them more than they can eat in several minutes, but they end up missing most of the food.

Also, we had a third neon, it died from shock of moving to its new home with us, so we tried to get one to replace it and the new one disappeared entirely. The tank has a snap-on lid so the cats can't scoop out the fish (and they stay mid to bottom tank)... I've read that other neons will eat dead ones, but this one disappeared within a few hours of us checking on them. There is a plastic screen on the filter so that the fish can't be sucked up into it, and it wasn't under the plants either. We've checked the area around the tank and found no fish flip-flopping around. Unless the neons and shrimp ate the new neon entirely within 3 hours, we don't know how to explain this... Could someone help?

Is there a reason you cannot simply feed less? a good feeding schedule and amount will result in no food accumulation.
I am sorry but I cannot help with the neon. I doubt though that it was eaten because a skeleton would be left behind in that case.
in addition to that, I would like to ask a few questions:
- does the tank have a heater? if yes, what temperature?
- does it have a filter? if yes, what size?
- did you cycle the tank?(if you don't know what this is please check the stickied posts in the beginner's section) and if yes, how?
- did you know that neons should be kept in groups of 6+ and belong in a 10 gallon tank or larger?
- do you have water parameters for your tank?(testing your water is important to know what is going on with your water. there are test kits that can be bought to do so.)

If you have substrate, the body could be under some of it. Either case, you need large and more frequent water changes for a few days to get rid of a large ammonia/nitrate spike from any decaying dead fish. If pH change is too large (your home tank has one pH and the fish store another) that will quickly kill any fish, esp. a neon. Use the drip method if you do not have a pH kit to check that the two pH levels are within 0.2 of any reading (i.e. your water has a pH of 7.2 and the water in the bag holding the fish has a pH of 6.9 - a difference of 0.3. Too large, so spend a few hours using an exchange of a little tank water every twenty minutes to get the pH closer to your tank level.)

Knowledge is fun(damental)

A 75 gal with eight Discus, fake plants, and a lot of wood also with sand substrate. Clean up crew is down to just two Sterba's Corys. Filters: continuous new water flow; canister w/UV, in-tank algae scrubber!! Finally, junked the nitrate removal unit from hell.

It's actually VERY common for Neons to vanish. The other Neons and the shrimp can eat it and scatter the bones very quickly. In fact, some new aquarists believe the bodies "dissolve".

You are feeding the fish too much. Look at the tiny little fish and the tiny little shrimp. Assuming you have average size flake food, you need 3 flakes. If they eat that in less than a minute, give another flake.

Now for the bad news.

Its makes a certain sense that a smaller tank is easier to keep. Unfortunately, this is incorrect. When something happens (such as leftover food in the tank), it releases a set amount of bad. The more water you have, the more this bad is diluted. The more it is diluted, the more time you have to fix it. The less water... you get the picture. Your three gallon tank has very little water, meaning if something bad happens, it is going to happen swiftly. And, unfortunately, Neons and Ghost Shrimp are sticklers for good water.

Do very frequent water changes is the only choice you have, and know, it might not be enough.

Neons are schooling fish. Pet big box stores tell you 3 is a school. On this forum, for most fish, the preferred size is 6 individuals. Neons don't get happy till the school is 12, and 24 is better. I do not know as much about Ghost Shrimp, my Neons thought they were a tasty treat, but I am lead to understand they like a party too.

Now, please note, I am not staying flush the contents down the toilet (actually, never flush you fish) and smash your tank with a hammer. I am just asking you not to get discouraged if it does not work out.

Thanks

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Originally Posted by madagascariensis

Is there a reason you cannot simply feed less? a good feeding schedule and amount will result in no food accumulation.
I am sorry but I cannot help with the neon. I doubt though that it was eaten because a skeleton would be left behind in that case.
in addition to that, I would like to ask a few questions:
- does the tank have a heater? if yes, what temperature?
- does it have a filter? if yes, what size?
- did you cycle the tank?(if you don't know what this is please check the stickied posts in the beginner's section) and if yes, how?
- did you know that neons should be kept in groups of 6+ and belong in a 10 gallon tank or larger?
- do you have water parameters for your tank?(testing your water is important to know what is going on with your water. there are test kits that can be bought to do so.)

We can try to feed less, someone else mentioned 3 flakes of the fish food maybe 4 if they are still hungry. We were following the schedule mentioned on the fish food bottle, so 3 times a day. But we were only giving a little pinch of food at a time. The tank has a heater that keeps it between 74 and 78 but I did some research and those are good temperatures. In the summer we won't need a heater at all as hot as it gets here. I would worry about them getting too hot then. The filter is for 3-5 gallons, and came with the tank kit. I have heard of cycling, but I thought it was a weekly thing, and we have only had the fish since last friday. The fish-guy at our local PetCo told us that they SHOULD be in a larger school, but would be ok in a group of 3 for the neons. We are planning to get a bigger tank next month, but this tank and these fish were a gift from my friend when he came to visit last week. We had the water tested at PetCo on Sunday, after the first fish died Saturday and we removed him from the tank, but it was after hours so we had to wait until the next morning to take him back and have the water tested. The test came back fine. He said that the water was really good. I do plan to buy test kits next month, but I only get paid at the first so I'm out of money for this week and next... I just figured that I'd have the water tested again this weekend when I have the time. They do free water tests. All of these fish are "brand new" to our home, and I've been searching the internet for info since we got them. There are just some things that I didn't even know to look up. I'm definitely checking the stickies about cycling.

If you have substrate, the body could be under some of it. Either case, you need large and more frequent water changes for a few days to get rid of a large ammonia/nitrate spike from any decaying dead fish. If pH change is too large (your home tank has one pH and the fish store another) that will quickly kill any fish, esp. a neon. Use the drip method if you do not have a pH kit to check that the two pH levels are within 0.2 of any reading (i.e. your water has a pH of 7.2 and the water in the bag holding the fish has a pH of 6.9 - a difference of 0.3. Too large, so spend a few hours using an exchange of a little tank water every twenty minutes to get the pH closer to your tank level.)

How should we go about sifting through the substrate? The fish get stressed if we reach into the tank to put the heater in or adjust the hardware. The neons hate when we do anything but feed them. As for water, the pet store does free water tests and as of Sunday said that it was fine. Of course, that was before the new neon disappeared. Do the test kits for the nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, etc check the pH? If not, what do we need, the pet store guy didn't mention the pH... I just thought that it must be close enough to theirs because all of the others in the tank are doing pretty well.

It's actually VERY common for Neons to vanish. The other Neons and the shrimp can eat it and scatter the bones very quickly. In fact, some new aquarists believe the bodies "dissolve".

You are feeding the fish too much. Look at the tiny little fish and the tiny little shrimp. Assuming you have average size flake food, you need 3 flakes. If they eat that in less than a minute, give another flake.

Now for the bad news.

Its makes a certain sense that a smaller tank is easier to keep. Unfortunately, this is incorrect. When something happens (such as leftover food in the tank), it releases a set amount of bad. The more water you have, the more this bad is diluted. The more it is diluted, the more time you have to fix it. The less water... you get the picture. Your three gallon tank has very little water, meaning if something bad happens, it is going to happen swiftly. And, unfortunately, Neons and Ghost Shrimp are sticklers for good water.

Do very frequent water changes is the only choice you have, and know, it might not be enough.

Neons are schooling fish. Pet big box stores tell you 3 is a school. On this forum, for most fish, the preferred size is 6 individuals. Neons don't get happy till the school is 12, and 24 is better. I do not know as much about Ghost Shrimp, my Neons thought they were a tasty treat, but I am lead to understand they like a party too.

Now, please note, I am not staying flush the contents down the toilet (actually, never flush you fish) and smash your tank with a hammer. I am just asking you not to get discouraged if it does not work out.

We plan to get a bigger tank for these guys when I get my betta next month, then we will put the betta in this smaller tank and put all the others into the large tank. We heard that you can have 10 neons in a 10gal tank. Also the ghost shrimp only need one gal per shrimp to be happy, so they said we can put 10 neons AND 10 ghost shrimp in the same tank together... It sounds like a bit much to me, but I'm a total beginner and have to learn as I go, or take advise. But, the ghost shrimp improve water quality in the fish-guy's experience, as well as the mystery snail. They are both scavenging species. We never even considered flushing the babies! I've heard people do it, but it just seems like it would pollute the rivers and ruin the memory of the fish. We took the first dead fish back to the pet store to exchange for a live one, and they take care of the dead one. My sis and I get very attached to our pets (and think of them as part of the family, even the fish) so we want to make them as healthy and happy as possible.
Thanks for helping.

Thanks for doing the legwork on the research.
you'll be happy once you understand the cycle and can get that going with your set up.

but manufacturer's recommend things for their wallet, not the fish.

fish in the wild may eat 5 times a day, then not again for a week. so to balance that schedule out, I feed mine every other day. they are perfectly happy, healthy and no issues.

by doing this, it prevents overfeeding and keeps my filters less "clogged" by the fish waste/excess food.

I hope the bigger tank comes in quick, you and you fish will be much happier with it.

know what size the future tank will be in?
because this is a good video to reference on neon's being in an appropriate school (massive)

they just act/look so much better. their natural habitat is in a school of hundreds, if not thousands.

GOing by what everyone is saying, we plan to get a 15gal so that the neons and ghost shrimps won't feel too crowded. They say in other places that one ghost shrimp per gallon is the way to figure it, and the same for neons. So we are going to make them a habitat as good as we can possibly afford. At the pet shop the neons are 5 for $5 so we can afford to make their aquarium a nicer more comfortable place. And thanks for showing this video!